“I
can just feel the energy in here tonight, I can hear all of you,” Stephan
Jenkins, lead singer of Third Eye Blind said, fluttering his fingers in the air
as if they were tingling while an electrified crowd roared back in William
& Mary Hall’s Kaplan Arena this weekend.

In the same
arena where the William & Mary community had united to commemorate Charter
Day and watch former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ’65 be invested as
the College’s 24th chancellor, students, faculty, staff and community members
danced and cheered to Ben Kweller and Third Eye Blind Saturday night, capping
off the College’s 319th Charter Day celebration.

{{youtube:medium|JRP6O9gkT8Q, Scenes from the Charter Day concert}}

“[It was
great] getting to see lots of students singing all the same songs,” said Bailey
Kielarowski ’13. “There was definitely good energy when one of their hit songs
would come and everybody would be singing along to it.”

Third Eye
Blind’s concert had been announced to much excitement during the Yule Log
Ceremony last December, and students rushed to reserve tickets online as soon
as they were made available in January. Members of the class of 2012 who had
donated to the senior class gift could also enter a raffle to win one of ten
backstage passes to meet the band.

Throngs of
students braved the rain to get to the concert Saturday night, packing the
floor and filling the seats all the way up to the rafters.

“Everyone
was there and super excited,” said Stephanie Gamache ’12.

Kweller’s
band opened the concert, playing tracks from their new album, to be released
the next Tuesday.

“I hadn’t
heard of him before, but I thought it was pretty good,” said Julie Myers ’12.

He also
performed songs from his older albums, including “Penny on the Train Track,”
for which the music video, featuring Kweller’s grandmother dancing, had been
circulated throughout the student body in the weeks leading up to the concert.

“Kweller prepped our
ears for the main event,” Janice Van ’12 said. “Kweller was like a bread
basket, while Third Eye Blind was the rib-eye steak.”

The
tantalized crowd waited, breaking out into a chant as they waited for Third Eye
Blind. Finally, the lights dimmed and then a blast of lights and sound brought
4,000 people to their feet.

“Third Eye Blind
definitely knew how to work a crowd,” Van said. “Stephan Jenkins had it going
on -- the charisma, the stage presence, the angsty scarf. And the crowd rose to
the band's energy, singing, dancing, clapping at every opportunity. Third Eye
Blind made us feel special.”

Jenkins
seemed to bask in the energy of the crowd.

“At one
point, they turned on all the lights so he could see everyone who was there,”
Gamache said. “I thought it was so cool when he started taking pictures [of
us].”

When the
band lulled the audience with their slower songs, students swayed while waving cellphones
and lighters. Then, the band pumped in energy with their hit songs such as
“Graduate” and “Jumper.”

“My favorite
part was the drum solo in the middle of ‘Jumper,’” said Myers, referring to
drummer Brad Hargreaves’ nearly five-minute performance.

The band
left the stage rather abruptly at one point, bidding everyone farewell.

“I know my
friend thought it was over, and I said ‘No, we just have to clap a lot and work
for it,’” said Myers.

And the
crowd did work for it, clapping and chanting “encore” until the band came back
on stage with “Semi-Charmed life,” one of their biggest hits.

“Hands down, my
highlight of the concert, and arguably my college career, was experiencing
Semi-Charmed Life in concert,” Van said.

At the end
of the night, though, most people seemed to have one thing on their mind as
they made their way out of the arena.